A very good movie

For many years, I have been a huge fan of Johnny Depp but, unfortunately, he has now become one of the most overrated actors at work nowadays. Basically, he keeps showing up in some huge blockbusters which are all rather underwhelming and I terribly miss the time when he was making some smaller features and was considered a box-office poison. Anyway, back in 2004, the situation was not yet so dramatic and this movie was one of the last smaller projects involving Johnny Depp before he became the biggest movie star in the world. Anyway, when this movie was released, it was very well received so I was really eager to check it out. And, indeed, it was really good with one of those great typical excentric characters he used to play in the 90’s. Also, the other intriguing element was to witness the genesis of one of the most enduring tales ever created. Of course, they have romanticized the whole thing (there is no such thing as a 100% accurate movie based on a true story) but it was really compelling to watch. The only complain I would have is that Kate Winslet’s character and even the kids could have been more developed in my opinion. For Marc Forster, it was a very impressive 3rd directing effort and he would continue to make some pretty good flicks (‘The Kite Runner’, ‘Stranger Than Fiction’, ‘Stay’). It is actually really too bad that he still has some trouble to recover from the ‘Quantum of Solace’ debacle (‘World War Z’ should be a turning point for him, either resurrecting his career, or finishing it altogether but I’m not really optimistic, I’m afraid). To conclude, it is a very good biopic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you want to see Johnny Depp is something worthwhile for a change.

8/10